Monday, 15 March 2010

Nine brave Bristolians will be officially welcomed home to the city at the Council House this evening, after their 34-day, 4,000-mile aid trip to Gaza at Christmas.

The group delivered more than £20,000 of humanitarian, medical and educational aid, raised by the people of Bristol on January 6 – despite clashes with Egyptian authorities at the border.

Supported by Bristol City Council, the group included four vans and mini-buses and a 44-ton truck painted with Banksy-style murals of Bristol & Gaza on one side, and Wallace & Gromit on the other. The group joined the main UK Viva Palestina convoy in London on December 5 and 250 people of all denominations set off across Europe and the Middle East to Gaza.

Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, Professor Manuel Hassassian, will join the welcome, along with Gaza journalist Sameh Habeeb, the Founder, Chair and Editor– in-Chief of the Palestine Telegraph.

Egypt's shameful Gaza steel wall is apparently nearly finished. Following the death of a soldier when the Viva Palestina was temporarily barred from entering the strip, the Egyptian state has decided to reinforce the watchtowers... all to the joy of the Israel and the US.

The reinforced underground steel wall which Egypt is building along its border with Gaza is nearly completed, Egyptian daily al-Shorouq reported Monday.

"Work on the main wall is in its fourth and final stage," the paper reported. Once that is complete, cameras and detection devices will be installed.

The process will take "a few weeks," followed by a testing period overseen by Egyptian and international experts.

The observation towers along the border are currently being replaced by new steel towers which employ bullet-proof glass. more